I am Nd and this is my Google Plus profile. The site is sleek, simple and great. This is a place that could challenge Facebook dominance in social media landscape in coming months. But Google + does not have Zynga and that is the problem for some folks.
If you need invitations to Google Plus, email tekedia@fasmicro.com.
Thank you Olabode for the inside connection. He gave me the IV and he has a lot remaining.
The Chinese white-box and gray-smartphone market, 2011 will see domestic Chinese suppliers focus mainly on EDGE smartphones based on the Android operating system, as well as 3G smartphones from 2012 onward, reports IHS iSuppli.
From the report, the illegal handets are projected to expand to 255 million units in 2011 and then begin to decline to 213 million units in 2012. By 2015, it will be less than 200 million units.
Several factors account for the decline in the shipment of gray-market smartphones in China, including stronger supervision by the Chinese government of gray-market handsets and a serious crackdown on counterfeit mobile phones. Moreover, players in the emerging markets, supplying product to their own areas, are grabbing market share away from gray-handset suppliers.
Other factors include concern from end customers about the quality and aftersales services of gray handsets; the expansion in market share of dominant local players like ZTE, Huawei, TCL/Alcatel and Sangfei into the developing countries, with cooperation from local operators; the change from some traditional gray-handset suppliers into branded original equipment manufacturers that promote their own trade names in the developing countries; the increasing difficulty among gray handsets in differentiating from similar platforms, such as those operated by big entities MediaTek or Spreadtrum; and the lack of a cost advantage in gray handsets when compared to 2G phones, as well as the absence of a competitive 3G turnkey solution for gray handsets in the near future.
It is interesting to know that the Chinese government has started to clamp on the makers of these fake or illegal handsets. We expect that to happen and for the makers to become increasingly unprofitable in the business.
Starcomms Plc, the only public traded telecom company in Nigeria, has confirmed that Mr Maher Qubain, its MD/CEO will retire. However, Maher will become advisor to the Board of Directors and to the new CEO when that is found. Speaking with journalists in Lagos, noted that he was leaving to enable people with fresh ideas, skills and capabilities to try to get their company working:
“Starcomms is a very unique company. It is trying to grow and the only way to grow is by bringing new ideas, expertise and skills to the company”, he explained.
This company is bleeding cash and Starcomms if they do not move fast may not survive the competition. The challenges will not retire with the MD/CEO. They are there and increasing daily.
Starcomms Chairman, Chief Maan Lababidi acknowledged the outgoing MD/CEO contribution:. “Maher has been key in the evolution of Starcomms. He has been a tremendous asset to Starcomms and we will indeed miss his insightful leadership and deep knowledge of the Nigerian and International telecoms market”.
Starcomms is a junk stock. It trades below a Naira. This char courtesy of First Global Select explains it all. There is nothing exciting about the public entrance of Starcomms except that people lost money in the stock. They need a new vision to get to winning ways.
| Trade Date | 14 July, 2011 | Currency | NGN (NIARA) |
| Last Trade | 0.53 | volume | 131,091 |
| Net Change | +0.00 | Value | 68,638.23 |
| % Change | +0.00 | Issued Shares | 6,878,478,096 |
| Open | N/A | Market Cap. | 3,645,593,390.88 |
| Today’s High | N/A | Bid | N/A |
| Today’s Low | N/A | Ask | N/A |
Shipments of smartphones for sale in China are set to soar by a record 53 percent this year, according to new research from the IHS iSuppli.Domestic smartphone shipments in China will rise to 54.1 million units in 2011, up from 35.3 million units in 2010. Of the projected domestic total for this year, more than 10 million and 15 million smartphone units will come from the giant Chinese makers ZTE and Huawei, respectively.
By the end of 2015, IHS forecasts that Chinese companies will ship 111.6 million smartphones, rising at a compound annual growth rate of 25.9 percent from 2010.
The average selling price for smartphones in China is set to fall below the $300 threshold in 2011 for the first time, declining to $299, down 4.9 percent from $314 in 2010.
The emerging market continues to help China even as it rakes more profits and gains through export which helps to expand its economy and make more people richer to afford this level of smartphone adoption. It dominates African market through ZTE and Huawei and continues to take market share from the Western brand.
In Nigeria, the best estimate of total smartphone usage this year should be in the high mid-million units. That shows the real difference between China and any part of the world. They just have the cash.